After another outstanding season at Harvard, top college defenseman Adam Fox had a decision to make. Would he turn pro and sign with the Carolina Hurricanes or return for his senior season and a chance at unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2020. Despite having said several times throughout the year that he hadn’t made a decision yet, rumors still surfaced that Fox didn’t want to sign with Carolina. That appears to be true, as Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that the young defenseman “isn’t likely to sign” with the Hurricanes.
That doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be returning to Harvard though, as it appears a trade is a potential outcome. Team owner Tom Dundon told Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News and Observer that they will indeed try to deal him. The Hurricanes could also sign him and then immediately send Fox to another team—like the New York Rangers, perhaps—in order for him to still burn a year off his eventual entry-level contract. Though the deadline in late February is usually referred to as the trade deadline, deals can actually still happen afterwards. The players involved however are not playoff eligible, which is why they rarely happen.
For a defenseman like Fox, almost all of the leverage is on his side. At very worst he can return to Harvard, finish his degree and wait until next August to become an unrestricted free agent. He’d obviously miss a year of professional experience and income, but could choose his destination.
This is exactly the situation that the Calgary Flames meant to avoid when they traded Fox in the blockbuster Dougie Hamilton–Elias Lindholm deal last year. It was clear the young defenseman wasn’t going to sign in Calgary so they leveraged his potential as part of the deal. Carolina had seemed confident that they would get him under contract—which to be clear is still a potential outcome—but things appear to have changed since then.
Hurricanes fighting for a playoff spot is impressive considering they got destroyed in two offseason trades for 3 of their best players.
Yep. They did make up for one of them though by fleecing Minnesota in the Niederreiter trade. In hindsight, this trade looks pretty bad. Especially with this news on Fox. But I don’t think it’s done yet. Lindholm and Hanifin were RFA’s I believe so what they do with that money should be factored in when evaluating this deal.
Dougie Hamilton is a stud.
But they’re probably losing ferland for nothing and Dougie has already been rumoured to be on the outs. Calgary took on 9.5 million on what now looks like bargain contracts where Carolina is currently paying just under 8, with a substantial raise coming to ferland if he is brought back. Carolina is nowhere near the cap so your argument about the cap factor is pretty much invalid as they saved less than 2 million but have around 16 million in cap space. Fox probably nets a 2nd for the canes IF he signs this trade was 110% win for the flames
I applaud all of those moves by the Hurricanes. Niederreiter has been a stud. As far as trading away their 3 best players, if nothing else, it was addition by subtraction. Hamilton is a grinder and good for the team. They should trade Fox as they dont need a player like that in the locker room.
They’re a budget team, not a cap team
What genius decided that 4 years was a sensible length of time for college players to achieve UFA status?
Euro players have their rights held indefinitely since it’s acknowledged that it would be easy for them to hang out and play in Europe until they could be UFA’s after a 4 year window.
But, college players have leverage that none of these other groups do because it’s easy for them to attend school for 4 years (some might even say it’s the point).
Not fair (to the other players or the teams that drafted them) and not good for the game.